Constructivism is based around the idea that learning happens when new topics and ideas are processed and synthesized with existing knowledge to create vast landscapes of knowledge and understanding. Based on this theory, the Personal Knowledge Bases (PKB) we created in this course, if created with enough discipline, could be seen as an electronic representation of everything learned. The ability to create folders, tags, and note naming conventions that connect and relate different notes (or "facts") with other notes allows the mind to create intersecting strands of knowledge to build up the web of knowledge. The ability to accumulate and store vast amounts of information is the biggest benefit of using a system like Evernote. It also leads to some of the biggest downfalls of a potential knowledge system.
Evernote, especially when working in tandem with feedly, gives the user an amazing ability to collect posts, stories, opinions, and facts faster than a person's ability to consume the content. The system is so powerful and so capable of taking a user down "fact spirals" that without an organizational system, he/she could be incapable of using everything saved.
Personally, my biggest issue with using Evernote and Feedly stems from a lack discipline. I would get too interested in finding things that I wouldn't read, summarize, and file articles consistently. By the time I looked back through my PKB I would have a large number of un-filed items and the "read" and "unread" items would be mixed together to create a mess. This was, clearly, counter productive to creating a usable, searchable, and ultimately useful PKB. It quickly became apparent that I would need to spend some time de-cluttering my existing knowledge base while creating a stricter entry process to avoid re-cluttering afterwards.
To solve this issue I came up with two solutions. First, I started using the "Save for later function" on Feedly if I wasn't able to take the necessary time to completely summarize, file, and tag the post on to Evernote. The second part of my solution was to clean out my PKB. Second, I created a separate folder for things I had to give more attention to. The creation of this folder not only allowed me to clear out poorly filed articles already in Evernote, it gave me a place to process articles I found outside of my Feedly account.
While continued use of Evernote, or other PKB capable software, primarily relies on my ability to maintain discipline and adapt my systems to my needs, there are some implementations or organization structures I might be interested in pursuing. The use of a shard folder with students, so that I could see which connections were being drawn or where there was a striking lack of connections, could be an interesting tool if figuring out how my students learn and how well the concepts have sunk in. I also think it would be interesting to find a large number of people who use an Evernote style knowledge collection system, discover what "type" of learner they are and what interests they have, and map out their PKBs to see if people with similar interests or learning "types" also have similar organisational structures in Evernote . The third capability I would like to pursue, and also the most discipline reliant capability, is to use Evernote note links to create a personal library of "Cliffnotes" style book summaries, broken down by chapter, to make rereading books a thing of my past.
The focus of this course on our PKBs was an interesting way for me to think about learning, technology, and the way they interface. Since this is my first course where I am definitely looking at school from the prospective of a potential educator, I hadn't spent much time thinking of how tools could impact my life or the lives of my students. Getting to see how people interacted with Evernote, and more importantly how many things people had go wrong, was eye opening. It was good to see how well a teacher needs to know a new product or program before implementing it in a classroom in order for it to be advantageous rather than an expensive distraction.
Evernote, especially when working in tandem with feedly, gives the user an amazing ability to collect posts, stories, opinions, and facts faster than a person's ability to consume the content. The system is so powerful and so capable of taking a user down "fact spirals" that without an organizational system, he/she could be incapable of using everything saved.
Personally, my biggest issue with using Evernote and Feedly stems from a lack discipline. I would get too interested in finding things that I wouldn't read, summarize, and file articles consistently. By the time I looked back through my PKB I would have a large number of un-filed items and the "read" and "unread" items would be mixed together to create a mess. This was, clearly, counter productive to creating a usable, searchable, and ultimately useful PKB. It quickly became apparent that I would need to spend some time de-cluttering my existing knowledge base while creating a stricter entry process to avoid re-cluttering afterwards.
To solve this issue I came up with two solutions. First, I started using the "Save for later function" on Feedly if I wasn't able to take the necessary time to completely summarize, file, and tag the post on to Evernote. The second part of my solution was to clean out my PKB. Second, I created a separate folder for things I had to give more attention to. The creation of this folder not only allowed me to clear out poorly filed articles already in Evernote, it gave me a place to process articles I found outside of my Feedly account.
While continued use of Evernote, or other PKB capable software, primarily relies on my ability to maintain discipline and adapt my systems to my needs, there are some implementations or organization structures I might be interested in pursuing. The use of a shard folder with students, so that I could see which connections were being drawn or where there was a striking lack of connections, could be an interesting tool if figuring out how my students learn and how well the concepts have sunk in. I also think it would be interesting to find a large number of people who use an Evernote style knowledge collection system, discover what "type" of learner they are and what interests they have, and map out their PKBs to see if people with similar interests or learning "types" also have similar organisational structures in Evernote . The third capability I would like to pursue, and also the most discipline reliant capability, is to use Evernote note links to create a personal library of "Cliffnotes" style book summaries, broken down by chapter, to make rereading books a thing of my past.
The focus of this course on our PKBs was an interesting way for me to think about learning, technology, and the way they interface. Since this is my first course where I am definitely looking at school from the prospective of a potential educator, I hadn't spent much time thinking of how tools could impact my life or the lives of my students. Getting to see how people interacted with Evernote, and more importantly how many things people had go wrong, was eye opening. It was good to see how well a teacher needs to know a new product or program before implementing it in a classroom in order for it to be advantageous rather than an expensive distraction.